State may bar private ultrasound machines

Responding to actor Tom Cruise’s purchase of an ultrasound machine to monitor his fiance’e's fetus, California lawmakers voted on Thursday to restrict sales of the machines.

The California Assembly voted 55-7 for a bill by Democratic Assemblyman Ted Lieu that would only allow sales of the machines to professionals and medical facilities licensed to use them.

In an interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters last year, Cruise said he bought a sonogram machine for then-pregnant fiance’e Katie Holmes. Concerned lawmakers feared other private citizens might do the same and possibly misuse the machines.

“Having an ultrasound once, twice during the course of a pregnancy, there is no danger,” Lieu spokesman David Ford said. “But too much or too often could cause the liquids in the womb to heat up, which could cause damage to the mother and fetus.”

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